Thursday: Pecha Kucha Oakland and The Estria Foundation at The New Parkway

This Thursday, October 10, some of Oakland’s most dynamic youth, arts, and social justice visionaries and organizations will gather for a unique event at The New Parkway Theater. Pecha Kucha Night in Oakland is part of The Estria Foundation’s event series highlighting the role public art plays in both community building and social change making. The event also offers an opportunity to hear about and see some of the current projects area artists, community members, and organizations are creating.

The event features nine presenters who will each show twenty slides for twenty seconds each about their art, project, or work. This short-form public presentation is in the Pecha Kucha style popularized by architecture and design communities in Tokyo.

Erin Yoshioka, The Estria Foundation’s Executive Director thinks the format offers a refreshing way to learn and connect. “Pecha Kucha sounds odd to some, but it really is a great way to get to know an artist or a project without having to attend a long lecture or presentation. It’s great for visual learners to quickly see what the presenter’s work looks like and to hear about it in their own words.”

And the list of presenters for this year’s event provide a fascinating mix of art, community, and social change making.

Presenters include:

Diana Alonzo works with Attitudinal Healing Connection and runs the Through Our Lens Youth Photography Program which seeks to reverse traditional paradigms that often further marginalize youth by portraying them as broken people who need to be fixed. The project engages West Oakland Youth to critically look and understand themselves and their community.

Eric Arnold is a pioneering hip-hop journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in 4080, the Source, Stress, and Rap Pages. He’s been a music and culture columnist for the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, Murder Dog, and Africana.com, and a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, Village Voice, Bay Guardian, Wax Poetics, Oakland Local and Urban Habitat’s Race, Poverty, and the Environment. Eric has written extensively about graffiti and aerosol art, media and telecommunications policy, and managed successful outreach campaigns for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Grind for the Green. He serves as the Communications Director of the Community Rejuvenation Project and the Communications Manager at Urban Releaf. (via Community Rejuvenation Project)

Rachel “Pixelina” Escoto is an Oakland based photographer with a passion for street art, abandoned buildings, and stolen moments. Her work documenting public art in the Bay Area and capturing streetscapes can be found on her site and on multiple social media networks. (via Pixelina)

Nancy Hernandez is a longtime Bay Area activist, organizer, and educator. She is the Director of The Estria Foundation’s#WaterWrites Mural Project which has produced community-driven murals highlighting movements for access to clean water around the world.

Favianna Rodriguez is an Oakland artist and cultural organizer whose art and collaborative projects deal with migration, global politics, economic injustice, patriarchy, and interdependence. She directs CultureStrike, a national arts organization that engages artists, writers, and performers in migrant rights. She co-founded Presente.org, a national online organizing network dedicated to the political empowerment of Latino communities. (via favianna.com)

Andre Rosariois the author of the popular Ride It or Die blog where he shares about his work taking old bikes and making them usable, affordable, and durable.

Toofly – Maria Toofly Castillo is a global artist and designer working from Ecuador with deep roots in New York graffiti and street art. Her art and design work have appeared in various books, video, and magazines such as Graffiti Women, Burning New York, Current TV, MTV Tr3, Trace, Mass Appeal, Juxtapoz, Marie Claire, and URB. (via Tooflynyc.com)

Ayesha Walker & Eddie Zazueta work with Youth Radio, an award-winning media production company that trains diverse young people in digital media and technology. Youth Radio’s mission is to launch young people on career and education pathways by engaging them in work-based learning opportunities, creative expression, professional development, and health and academic support services. (via Youth Radio)

Thursday’s event is part of a multi-week event series culminating in Saturday’s Estria Battle, an art competition and festival held in conjunction with Life is Living at DeFremerey (Little Bobby Hutton) Park from 10:00 am – 6:00 pm.